This invention relates to an adjustable apparatus and method of use for manually controlling the thickness of dough.
A variety of methods and apparatuses have been developed for processing materials such as plastics or dough and controlling the thickness of these materials during processing. Many of these involve automated systems and comprise a plurality of rollers or pairs of rollers. Some of these also include means for controlling the width and thickness of the material being processed. See, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,534,296 to Pike et al; 2,835,212 to Keathley, Sr. et al; 2,960,044 to Anetsberger; 3,017,665 to Dasher et al; and 3,055,318 to Engels. Other devices used with rolling pins include means for cutting dough. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,994,652; 3,299,835; and 2,968,261.
Dough rolling machines, sometimes called sheeters, can roll dough to the desired thickness by adjusting the spacing between the bearings or journals, whereby the space between the surfaces of a pair of rollers are adjusted to give dough the desired thickness. Some of these sheeters also use a roller having flanges which overlap the ends of a second roller to control the width of the dough.
For an individual cook desiring to process limited quantities of dough, there is no easy and practical way of controlling the thickness of the dough. This inability to consistently obtain a uniform thickness may cause problems in duplicating recipes and may result in the overcooking or undercooking of dishes having crusts (e.g. pies, quiches, etc.). Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus adaptable for use on a home scale for controlling the thickness of dough. It is a further object of this invention to provide dough manipulating apparatuses that are manually adjustable. It is another object of this invention to provide dough manipulating apparatuses that have easily changeable parts. It is a further object still to provide dough manipulating apparatuses which are easily portable. It is yet another object to provide dough manipulating apparatuses which make it possible for authors of recipes to specify dough thickness more precisely than heretofore, so that better results may be achieved in using these recipes because of improved uniformity and reproducibility. These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.